We're Not at the End
by generationloki
Summary: Tony met Loki at the hospital.


**Warning: **physical disability, implied child abuse, major character injury, major injury.

**Notes:** Thanks to my beautiful Kourtney for beta'ing! I love you, sweetie 3  
And thank you so so so much to the amazing Julia, whom is just perfect and amazing and ughhgkjfbdj i love you!  
And finally, as always thank you to Yara, for just being wonderful.  
_Remember, don't like, don't read!_

* * *

"No one is as lucky as us  
We're not at the end but, oh, we already won  
Oh, no, no one is as lucky as us  
Is as lucky as us"

- Where the Lines Overlap by Paramore

* * *

Tony scratched at the plaster on his arm, trying to wedge a finger underneath it to itch his stitches that were laid across his upper arm. He sighed and tottered around the hospital. It was bustling and full of whispering voices and the beeps of machines. But Tony didn't mind. At least he was out of his room.

His parents weren't even looking for him. Tony was 7 years old with a broken arm in a sling, wandering alone around a hospital and his parents didn't care.

Tony didn't mind though. Because of his parents' couldn't-care-less approach to parenting, he was able to explore the huge place and maybe even make some new friends. It was a children's hospital after all. He walked up and down the corridors, smiling at all the nurses just as his dad did to let them know that he knew what he was doing. It wasn't lying, he told himself just as his Pop had, it was reassurance.

He walked down a particularly wide and long corridor up to an entrance with the words, "Intensive Care Unit" printed across the top. Tony furrowed his brow at the confusing first word but ending up shrugging and continuing down the corridor anyway.

The boy trotted along the bright white and clean path, peaking into all the windows, even though he couldn't quite reach them to properly take a look inside no matter how tall he was up on his toes. He huffed in irritation and scratched his arm. This corridor was very different to the others, with less bustling people and more of a mournful air about it. The patients he could see around slightly opened doors were in no condition to play with, most of them unconscious.

Tony was about to turn back when he heard the telltale bustling of a gurney heading his way. He gasped in fright and quickly placed a little hand on the door handle of one of the rooms behind him and leapt inside. He slammed the door shut behind him.

His chest was heaving with the heavy beats of his heart and his quickened breathing. He put an ear to the door and listened intently. He breathed a sigh of relief when the gurney passed by him. Tony turned and slid down the door, sitting on the floor in a pile. He plonked his heavy plastered arm in his lap, and took it out of its temporary sling. He got out his marker to draw on the mould, finishing off a bright red robot that was shooting lasers at his wrist as if it was trying to meld the bones back together.

"Mum?" Tony nearly jumped out of his skin. His hand was shaking with alarm. Who was that calling for their mother? There was someone else in the room. "Mother? Is that you?" It was a boy—and by the sounds of it, a boy not much younger than he. Tony slid his arm back into its sling.

"Er—no, I'm not your mom. I'm Tony." Tony stood up, looking around the seemingly empty room. At last, his eyes found the bed in the centre of the room. On the bed was a young boy in a hospital gown with a tube going up his nose and another into his hand. The boy had long black hair fanning over his single pillow and bright blue-green eyes that were looking straight at Tony. "Sorry I came into your room. I needed somewhere to hide."

"From who?" The boy asked.

"There were nurses coming down the corridor with a trolley bed thing."

"Oh. Okay. You can stay in here for a while if you want."

Tony walks cautiously toward the bed a bit closer. The boy's eyes followed him but he wasn't moving whatsoever. The boy had his sheets drawn up to his hips. A large black brace was wrapped all the way up his torso where it finished in a neck brace. He was scarily still, as if he were afraid to move.

"Hullo," Tony said, sticking his hand out. "I'm Tony Stark. I know I said that before but Pop always said to be polite in introductions."

The boy drew his eyebrows together and blinked in confusion. Slowly and carefully, he drew one hand away from his stomach and slipped it weakly into Tony's, shaking it softly before letting it drop back.

"I'm Loki Od— Friggason," he says.

"Hi, Loki Odefriggason." Loki smiled faintly. Tony cocked his head to the side. "You're pretty skinny, Loki."

Loki frowned and snapped, "Well, maybe you're pretty chubby."

Tony laughed. "Okay, sorry. Why are you in the hospital?"

"I fell down the stairs and broke my back." Loki's eyes filled with sadness but Tony kept the conversation going.

"Oh, alright, then. I broke my arm when I fell off the swing set at school. I cried, but it doesn't hurt too badly anymore. Do you still hurt?"

"Yes," Loki said. "A lot."

"How old are you?"

"6 and a half. You?"

"7 years old last week. I like you. Do you want to be friends?"

Loki looked taken aback, his mouth dropped slightly open. "Um, okay."

Tony smiled widely. The smile dropped off of his face when the door to the room clicked and started swinging open. He staggered backwards. A tall woman holding a plastic box glided in.

"I'm sorry to bring my lunch in like this sweetheart, I know that you can't eat yet. I just—oh." The woman gasped, stepping back. It almost mirrored Tony's reaction. A polite smile then settled onto her face. "Sorry for interrupting. Who are you?" The woman was a little older than Tony's mother, and she was taller too. She had long, waist-length blonde hair in a plait and wore rich-looking clothes.

Tony looked over her once again and decided that she wasn't a threat. "Tony Stark, ma'am," he announced, stepping forward. "I'm Loki's new friend."

The woman smiled wider. She walked over to a desk on the other side of the room and placed the food upon it. It smelt like fried chicken and Tony's mouth watered. She then drifted over to Loki and bent down, pressing a loving kiss to his forehead. She combed his hair back. "Well this is my youngest son Loki and you may call me Frigga. Can I ask what are you doing here, Tony?"

Tony scuffed his toe along the bright, clean floor. "Um, well, I wanted to look for some friends. And I found Loki so I'm happy." Tony moved to jump onto the bed next to his newfound friend, but eyed Loki's brace in consideration. Instead, he carefully set himself down a plastic chair next to him and dragged it over to Loki's field of vision so he didn't have to move his head.

"Wanna watch TV?" Tony asked.

Loki pursed his lips. "The docs say that I can't sit up yet. My back is hurt too badly."

"Oh. All right." The boy looked around the room before picking up a novel on the beside table. He shook off the lone card that was sitting on it, which was signed: "Love from your brother, Thor. Get well, please." It wasn't a big book and when Tony flicked through it, it wasn't too hard to understand. "Then I'll read to you. I'll read you this book on your table, okay? Peter and Wendy by J.M. Barrie."

Loki's eyes shifted to his mother whom encouraged him with a nod and a careful stroke of his hand. "Okay," he said in an unconfident voice.

Tony opened the book and flipped to where the bookmark was, around the middle of the book. "Alright, let's do this." He looked to Loki for confirmation. The boy gave him a shy smile.

It only took half an hour for Tony to lose concentration and become bored. He put the book back on the table.

"Do you want to go out and play, Loki? There's a park just downstairs and we can play Frisbee or something if you want," Tony suggested. His eyes were wide with excitement. Images of the two boys running around the grass throwing and catching to each other and rolling around together filled his mind. He smiled. "We can play lots of games."

Loki's mouth pulled down at the sides. "I can't," he said.

"Why?" Tony asked.

"Because I just can't."

"But why?"

"Because I broke my back and I'll never play games again," he said loudly with a wobbling voice. His eyes spilled fat tears. "That's what the doctors told me. That I won't ever run or walk ever again because that man I used to call my dad pushed me down the stairs and I broke my back and my life will never be the same and it's all his fault." He snuffled and shut his watering eyes tightly. Loki lay on the bed, trying his very hardest not to cry.

Tony's mouth dropped open and his eyebrows drew together. "Aw, Loki. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry." Loki took a shuddering breath. "Please, stop crying, I'm sorry. It's okay. Don't cry; you're going to make me cry." Tony's voice was now starting to go wobbly.

A gentle hand closed on his shoulder, squeezing it in an effort to comfort the distressed Tony. Frigga nodded at Tony before she moved closer to Loki, placing a hand upon his wet cheek. "Baby," she said, softly. "Do you want to take your nap now? It's important that you rest."

Loki opened his eyes. They were red and full of tears. "No, I don't want to sleep. I'm sorry for crying, mummy. I'll be good. Tony can stay." He was almost begging his mum.

"Tony has to go back to his room, now. His parents are waiting for him," she said. That was a lie. But Pop always told him that parents are allowed to lie so he didn't say anything.

The crying boy looked over at Tony, still not moving from his position. "Okay," he whispered. Frigga lent down and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"Sleep well, darling," she said. "I'm sure Tony will come back for a visit tomorrow."

"Yep," Tony piped up. "I'll be there. See you in the morning, Lokes."

"Bye, Tony," Loki said, even bothering to give him a slow and careful wave.

Frigga put a hand to Tony's back and led him out of the room. The two of them stood outside of Loki's room. Tony looked at his feet, sadly.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Frigga. I didn't mean to make Loki cry, I just wanted to play with him," Tony blurted. His eyes dripped tears onto the toes of his shoes.

Frigga was quiet for a while before kneeling down to Tony's height. She lifted his chin up with her hand and wiped his tears form his chubby cheeks. "It's alright, Tony. You didn't mean it. My son is in a very sensitive state at present, and it's understandable that he got upset.

"Loki got hurt very badly when he fell, Tony," she explained to him. "You won't be able to play rough with him for a long while, but once he feels a bit better, you can play a little."

Tony's face lit up. "So once he's better, we can play tag together?"

Frigga smiled sadly. "That won't happen, I'm afraid."

"What do you mean?"

"When Loki fell down the stairs in our home, he broke his back on the steps and his spinal cord— the thing controlling his legs— snapped. This kind of hurt means that Loki cannot walk anymore."

"Oh." Tony paused. That made sense. "That's okay. We can play board games and go to the movies and stuff, then. That's still fun."

Frigga smiled widely and drew Tony close to her, giving him a warm hug. "Thank you, child. Loki needs a friend right now more than anything." She gave him a kiss on the cheek, which made Tony feel butterflies in his stomach. "Now, off with you. Your parents must be worried sick. I'll see you in the morning, okay, Tony?"

"Okay, Mrs Frigga," he said, cheerfully. With that, he walked off down the corridor once again.

* * *

Tony knocked at Loki's door the next day. He heard a call from inside and entered. He spied Frigga sitting by the bed, holding Loki's hand, and on the other side was a teenage boy with long blonde hair holding Loki's opposite hand. The teen looked like he had been crying heavily due to the tear tracks on his cheeks and his red, puffy eyes. He wiped his eyes quickly and coughed.

"Tony," Frigga sung out. "Good morning, honey. Thor and I were just leaving for morning tea."

The brown haired boy nodded. "Okay, Mrs Frigga. I came by to talk with Loki if that's alright."

Loki's mother smiled brightly. "Yes, of course that's fine! We'll leave you to it." Frigga stood, pressing a kiss to Loki's cheek and gestured for the teen known as Thor to follow her.

Before the two left, grabbing their coats, Thor stopped in front of Tony. "I'm Thor, Loki's big brother," he said in a very low and rumbling voice. "Thank you for visiting with him, Tony. I appreciate it." In shock, Tony just stood there, his mouth agape. Thor laughed loudly and clapped him on the shoulder, making him lurch forward. "We'll see you in an hour, boys," he announced before following after his mother.

After they were gone, Tony walked straight up to the bed and sat in the same spot as the day before. Loki looked at him as if he were stunned that he came back. He was still in his brace, but there were more pillows propping him up a little more.

"Hullo, Loki," he said, cheerfully. "Did you have a good sleep?"

Loki said, "Yes, I did, thanks. Did you?"

"Uh huh." Tony swung his legs back and forth on the chair. "So we didn't end up finishing that book yesterday. Do you want me to keep going?"

Loki blinked in surprise. "Okay, if you want to."

Tony reached over and snatched the book with one hand, opening it to where they left off. He was only through half the first page when he stopped and looked at his new friend. Loki was staring at him intently, his eyes wide in interest. Tony beamed at him. "We're gonna be great friends, Loki. I just know it."

The dark-haired boy grinned. "I'd really, really like that."

* * *

**Notes:** Thanks for reading.


End file.
